It is a well known fact that surgical procedures require the surgeon to have an enormous degree of care and precision when performing the operation. In order to operate with precision it is a fundamental condition that the surgeon has access to good lighting, especially when operating on cavities and recesses inside the body which are normally difficult to see.
Surgeons and medical professionals have been seeking improved illumination solutions for a long time and various solutions have been proposed in the past, as will be discussed below.
The modern traditional and basic lighting system is based on the use of strong overhead lights or projectors that are located relatively far away from the operating field. At present, these are normally large heavy lights fixed to the ceiling of the operating room or fixed to a stand near the operating table. This system, which is still an obligatory piece of equipment in any modern operating room (and should remain so in the future), has several disadvantages associated with it. Firstly, this type of light source does not always enable a focused light on the targeted area, such as recesses and cavities in the human body which are by nature difficult to see. This problem is compounded by the fact that sometimes, the surgeon's hands, shoulders and head get in the way of the light, which creates shadows in the operating field. These large powerful lights also generate a lot of heat, which can often place the surgeons and other medical staff at some discomfort.
Although said overhead lights should, and most probably will, remain essential equipment in any modern operating room, they should be complemented by other more localized lighting methods.
Due to the shortcomings of the overhead lights and with the objective of bringing the light source closer to the operating field, other lighting systems have been developed that consist in strapping a light to the surgeon's head cap. Presently, the light source of this system is done with fiber optics, but in the past other lighting solutions, such as incandescent light bulbs, have been proposed.
This lighting method, although also extremely useful and generally beneficial for surgeons, does has the disadvantage of forcing the surgeon to move his head and neck in order to make the light shine on the area where he wishes to operate. In addition, this sort of apparatus is relatively heavy to carry on one's head for long periods of time, which can negatively affect the surgeon's performance, particularly during a long operation. The headlights also do not resolve many of the same the problems related to the overhead room fixed lights, such as the creation of shadows when hands and other objects are placed in the path of the light.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,585,727 describes a lighting solution that includes specifically designed medical instruments that can temporarily receive a fiber optic cable which provides illumination to the surgical pocket. This system, although providing a better illumination of the targeted area, has many disadvantages, namely it is excessively complex and costly since it requires the manufacture of special dedicated surgical instruments with guides through which the fiber optic cable can pass. In addition to this being fairly difficult to do during an operation, it is also quite time-consuming, since the threading of a cable through small guides on a surgical instrument is something that takes time and dexterity. The disclosed solution would most definitely not be adequate for emergency situations. Lastly, this system also has the disadvantage that one cannot alter easily the position and angle of the light source.
WO 02/07632 provides another different approach to solve the problem of lighting the surgical pocket. This invention consists of a lighting apparatus that is attached to the actual inside of the patient's body through stitches and other traumatic techniques, which techniques are complicated and may even violate the basic therapeutic principle of “primum non nocere.” There are innumerous shortcomings and disadvantages associated to this system, namely the complexity, cost and volume of the apparatus. In addition, the fact that this apparatus operates on batteries means that there is the additional necessity of verifying that the batteries are charged before surgery begins. This means additional workload and worries for the health care providers and equipment maintenance teams.
In US-2005/063177 to CORREA, Carlos et al, an illumination assembly usable with a plurality of devices which includes a light source having one or more light generating elements, preferably LED's is disclosed. This illumination assembles provides a solution that due to its specific configuration is not suitable for open-sky surgeries, not providing easy adjustment of the angle of the light, sliding and easy repositioning. During the surgery, transfer of the assembly from one instrument to another cannot be easily performed without the help
WO-2005/094712 discloses a surgical light comprising a plastic moulded element having a compartment for a magnet and another compartment for a LED. This light is conceived to be adhered to a surgical retractor by magnetic attraction and is not adaptable to surgical instruments. It aims the solving of problems of disposability, price and materials and not of lightning. The size and weight are a considerable problem and the magnets must be strong enough to support the weight of the light without slipping.
A method and systems for medical and surgical lighting systems is disclosed in WO-2004/080291, including methods and systems wherein semiconductor illumination light sources are integrated into surgical tools for providing controlled lighting to a work area, such as a body cavity. However this system has several drawbacks namely that they are complex, fixedly attached or embedded into the surgical instrument.